Haven
by Luddles
Summary: What exactly happens when all of the Anima characters come across a supposedly haunted forest with... a rather large spider? HuskyxNana, SenrixOC ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Fear Hollow**

**Asuka Neko Kirikae**

_Note: This story takes place six years after the +Anima series._

**Disclaimer: I don't own +Anima, duh. I can't draw half that good!**

**Cooro: Wait, we're not in our regular story!?**

**Husky: Heck, no! I'm out of character!**

**Nana: Love does that to people. **

**Husky: Whaaaaaaa-- You read this already!?**

**Nana: Weeeeelll... Yeah.**

**Asuka: NANA-NANA-NANA-NANA! You aren't supposed to tell people that!!!**

**Chapter One: Fear Lives in the Hollow**

"Not a sound," said Cooro. "It's so quiet." Nana shivered in the darkness, glad she was traveling with a bunch of boys who weren't scared of anything (with the exception of Cooro.) "Huh," said the crow +Anima in question, "I guess I'll sing then"

"NO!" Nana shouted, her little voice sounding oddly loud in the eerie silence of the night. The forest was called Fear; did she really need Cooro to start singing? "If you sing, I can't hear something creeping up on us," she added, twitching her bat ears.

"Right," he sighed. "But gosh, don't you wish it was a little less creepy out here?"

"Oh, well who doesn't?" Husky asked.

"Maybe someone wants it to be scary, just to get intruders out," Cooro thought aloud. Nana shuddered again. Had something just… moved? The summer wind blew oddly cold, and the four wanderers jolted closer together.

"Oh, I hate dark forests, I hate dark forests, I hate dark forests," Nana squealed to herself. She suddenly felt a gloved hand slide into hers, and Husky's nervous glance told her that he wasn't entirely fearless. Something howled. "Eek! It's a wolf!" Nana exclaimed. Husky's hand gripped hers more tightly, and his other arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"What in all the world are you doing, Husky?" asked Cooro. Husky didn't answer. A piercing birdcall split the sky, along with a cat's high-pitched yowl. And then, nothing was left but a creeping silence, and the shivering of the trees under some unknown force. Something was crawling in the forest. Nana buried her face in Husky's chest.

"I can't stand this!" she squeaked, knowing that only he heard. At least Husky understood her fear of dark forests.

"Oh… what is that?" Husky said slowly. Nana looked up. It was a creature, easily taller than even Senri, with numerous glowing red eyes and an insect's body covered in coarse hair.

"Are you kidding me, it's a spider!?" she howled. Then, Nana couldn't stand it. She screamed, her bat instincts taking over, and everyone else was momentarily stunned. She looked at the huge spider-thing again, and shrank back into the darkness, not wanting to go near it. "Cooro? Senri? Husky?" she called. "Where are you guys? What's going on?" Something hard connected with the back of her head, and she fell, an odd winged shape standing over her. The figure nodded to the spider-creature, who stood and resumed a human form. Her short blond hair and bright eyes reminded none of a spider, especially not the being she became. She shivered.

"I really scared those kids, didn't I?"

"Heck, you did," said the other figure, "Now we've got to take this one back before she wakes up and pulls her bat-scream on us again. You're taking her back."

"Why me?"

"If I fly her, there's no telling what'll happen if she yells and knocks me out. At least you're only seven feet from the ground. Now get going."

-------------

Nana awoke in a tent, wondering what had happened. She caught a silvery glint in the corner of her eye, and found Husky, Cooro, and Senri lying in the tent with her, all unconscious. "Um, Husky? Are you awake?" she asked, hoping he was. And what of Senri? It usually took a lot to conk him out. Even a full-grown bear and a bear +Anima and his power going nuts couldn't do much to faze him. Not to mention the time someone had nearly choked him and he'd fallen in the river… and still survived. Who in the world had attacked them? Right, it was that spider.

"Nana?" It was Husky, who was thankfully awake.

"Hey," she said, "what happened?"

"Hmm, one minute you were shrieking your lungs out, and the next, someone whacked me upside the head with my own staff," he said. "Embarrassing, eh?"

"So was it that spider or someone else?" Nana asked.

"You mean the +Anima?" Cooro said. So it had been a +Anima.

"I guess," said Nana. "But where are we now? And what is wrong with Senri, he's like… dead, or something!"

"He's asleep," said Husky. "He and Cooro passed out when you screamed but I saw it coming and jumped away."

"Trust Senri to fall asleep and make it look like he's unconscious," Nana muttered. "The man sleeps like a log."

"A bear," said Cooro.

"I know," said Nana. "Who brought us here?"

"That's what I'd like to YAAAH!" Husky shouted, as he opened the tent-flap and found a white-haired girl standing face-to face with him. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

"My name's Lola!" she giggled. "I think you might've heard me… and I was howling… did you? Was I scary?"

"You were the thing howling?" Nana asked. She nodded. "Gosh, you scared me!"

"Yay! I'm kind of supposed to scare people, because we can't have… intruders on Guinevere. They freak. Guinevere and Arachnea brought you here last night, and all of you were unconscious except for Senri."

"Yup!" Cooro chirped. "He's still asleep!"

"Ha! He's funny… like weird, almost. Oh, you've never met Arachnea and Fen and Guin and Flora!"

"There are only girls here?" Husky asked.

"I thought you were over that?" Nana said. He nodded.

"I am." Husky had hated girls previously because most people thought that he was a girl, probably because of his straight silvery hair and bright blue eyes. Nana had even thought so at one point. Well, she didn't care about that anymore. Besides, Husky had gotten a lot older, and most people didn't guess that he was a girl anymore.

Lola lead them out to a clearing where four other people were sitting around, talking about something. "YOU GUYS!" she shouted, and they all turned around.

"Oh, hey, you finally woke up!" said a woman with short blond hair. "I'm Arachnea, and… I'm really sorry for scaring you so much last night." She looked at the ground shamefacedly.

"You're the spider +Anima?" Cooro asked. She nodded. "Golly, you don't look a thing like a spider!"

"I know, I hate them," she said. "But, I became one, so that's just how it is. I can't change that."

"I don't like bats, either," Nana said. "But I feel like I've never met anyone else who doesn't like the +Anima they are."

"Sure!" she laughed. "I hate spiders! I'm afraid of them! But anyway, I at least have more respect for them now." The other three girls looked like they were around Arachnea's age, or maybe a little older. One of them didn't ask any questions as she looked at them, but the other just looked a little annoyed.

"So," said Lola, "That's Guin," she pointed at a girl with long curly black hair and bright brown eyes, "that's Fen," a tall girl with vivid red hair, "and Flora." She was the oldest woman, and somewhere in her twenties.

"Hey," said Nana shyly.

"Hey Nana, Cooro, Husky," said Guin. "Oh, gosh, this is going to be interesting."

"Did Senri tell you who we were or something?" Husky asked.

"Or something," Guinevere replied. "Sorry about seeming intimidating. But I read minds, so I already know you guys." Cooro's eyes doubled in size.

"WHOA! YOU'RE KIDDING!" he shouted.

"She's not. She seriously is not kidding," said Husky. "That is amazing, how did you do that?"

"I was genetically altered by a mad scientist who was my master in Sailand. You've been there. You know what it's like," she explained. "He didn't care about me, only the fact that he could use me for his experiments."

"I get it," said Husky bitterly.

"Heey, where's Senri, you guys?" Nana asked, changing the subject.

"Hmm, Senri?" said Guin. "Uh, he's still asleep."

"I told you he sleeps like a log," Nana said. Guin nodded.

"You guys do know that he doesn't dream," she said. "He has no memories, so he can't."

"That's sad!" Cooro sighed. "Dreaming is fun, I like it! Even though most of my dreams involve apples…" Husky promptly bonked him on the head.

"Yeah, like you have to tell everyone," he hissed. "We're trying to make a good impression on these people in case you haven't noticed."

"Is it just because they're a bunch of pretty girls?" Nana said slyly.

"NO!" Husky shouted, and looked like he was about to whack her. "You had better not insult me like that!" Senri appeared behind Husky, and pulled him back.

"Don't," he said quietly. Nana grinned.

"You didn't have to do that, Senri, he wouldn't hurt me," she said, "I'm too cute for that!"

"Since when?" asked Husky, who was a very bad liar in front of Nana, Cooro, and Senri. They all knew that he thought Nana was pretty.

"Okay, sure Husky," said Cooro doubtfully. Guin slowly strung another daisy through her black hair, looking thoughtful.

"What'cha reading?" Lola asked previously.

"Husky's mind, does that bother you?" Guinevere asked. "I gave up on the others."

"What do you mean?" asked Nana.

"Cooro keeps thinking about apples, and Senri's mind messes me up, it's so meddled with. And I already read your mind Nana. I'm really sorry for sounding so weird about this, but if I don't read someone's mind as soon as I meet them, it'll annoy me," she said.

"That's odd," said Cooro. She shrugged.

"Nobody thinks it isn't," she said. "And that is probably because the chances of meeting another telepathic person other than me are about zero. Even though you guys do travel, you haven't met any yet I don't think."

"You know who we've met on our travels?" asked Cooro.

"Senri's only memories are of those things. It's not hard to find," she said. "But he's forgotten some people, because the rest of you remember more people than… er… flowers." They all laughed, thinking about Senri's weird habit of putting flowers in a small book that he carried everywhere. That was how he remembered things, if there wasn't a flower to remind him or something, he promptly forgot it.

"So, does this mean our mission is able to be completed?" asked Flora.

"Mission?" Husky questioned. Flora nodded, and tilted her head down so that her long wispy brown bangs fell in her eyes.

"We have a mission. We have long searched for more +Anima, but needed new people to go out looking. We'd like to ask you to go. With Guinevere, of course, but… I hope we're not putting too much of a burden on you. But there's something important about +Anima that you must know."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own +Anima. Got it?**

**Nana: *reading ch. 4 again* I like this chapter**

**Asuka: PUT THAT DOWN! You can't read it 'till it's DONE!**

**Nana: If Husky actually said that, I'd scream and wonder who he was and what he did with Husky**

**Husky: WHADDYA MEAN!? I CAN'T HAVE SENSE!?**

**Nana: I don't think so.**

**Senri: ....**

**Asuka: Thank you, Senri. Besides, this chapter is about you...**

**Senri: ...**

**Chapter Two: Cherry Blossoms**

"There is a Haven," said Flora. "Haven Isle, where +Anima are safe to go about their life without being persecuted. The five of us are Wish, agents recruited to find other +Anima under persecution and bring them safely to Haven, if they desire. The leader of the Wish is named Kazana, and he will shortly be taking a ship from a city called Maggie Vil to Haven Isle. We would much like it if you four could travel with Guinevere. For the longest time, we've needed someone to take her there."

"Why couldn't she go by herself?" asked Cooro.

"Because," Guinevere explained. "If I went by myself, I would have no protection against the people who are looking for me in attempt to recapture me. I will not explain further, but Flora and the others have decided that I require a guard."

"You mean Senri," said Nana. Fen smirked.

"Smart, ain't she?" she said. "Yeah, honey, she's talking about Senri." They all glanced at him. Guinevere had obviously detected his will to protect others, and his strength.

"I'll do it," he said. Nana, Cooro, and Husky wondered if he really understood.

"How long does it take for us to get to Maggie Vil from here?" asked Husky. "It took us a while last time."

"Ah, so you have been there once before," said Flora. "Well, that's good. If you take the river out of here at a straight shot to Maggie Vil, you won't take as long. It'll be about two days, if you start now."

"So let's go!" Cooro chirped.

"Yeah, come on!" said Nana, as they went back to gather their belongings before heading off to the city. Guinevere came in the tent with them, and picked up a bag which she tossed over her shoulder and a sword. Nana looked at the weapon curiously, and Guinevere noticed her interest instantly.

"I carry a sword with me because I fight better with a weapon than without one," she said. "That's not saying I can't."

"Will we have to fight anyone?" asked Nana.

"If we're lucky, we won't," said Guinevere, and they set off on their journey. The day's travels were filled with all kinds of interesting discussions, involving everything from Cooro's singing to whether or not Nana and Husky had some interest in each other. Guinevere wouldn't say a word on that topic, and everyone knew that she had the truth as a result of her mind-reading. That night, they stopped in a small grove of trees, awaiting the morning when they could travel again.

----------------------

"Hey, Senri," said Guinevere the next morning as he approached her under a cherry blossom tree outside the camp where they were staying. The sunlight gleamed on his grey hair and he smiled at her. It was perfect. She stood. "What's up? Is anything wrong?" she asked. His single grey eye narrowed. Something was wrong.

Inside Senri's heart, emotions surged upwards. He felt so odd around her, and it made his feelings explode. Oh, but that was right. He was supposed to suppress his emotions, lest he… couldn't stand it anymore. What was wrong? He was going crazy again, but this time, it was all because of love. Love? L- He was gone. Lost to a world of insanity, no longer Senri, passed beyond the void of all normal life. Senri was unconscious. Amurui was the one standing there; ready to hurt the woman Senri loved so much.

"NO!" Senri shouted from inside himself, but Amurui wouldn't listen. The mad bear wanted to kill. Senri tried to wake up, so desperately, but that monster had him in a vice-like grip as it always had. It was going straight towards Guinevere. Senri sobbed as Amurui swiped his claws at her. "Don't do it, don't hurt her, please!" he pleaded with the monster. Amurui didn't care.

Outside, Guinevere was wondering what was going on. Why was Senri hurting her? But she didn't know that he wasn't Senri. Amurui's claws flashed at her again. She thought hard. He wouldn't hurt her if she had something that would scare him, would he? She unsheathed her sword and held it in front of herself. He wouldn't risk hurting himself to hurt her, whatever that meant.

Senri's eyes widened in terror as that hideous monster leapt at her. How was he just watching? He wanted to hurt Amurui, to rip him to shreds for ruining his life, his love. Tears poured from his eyes. "Don't hurt her!" he shouted. "Please, no! I love her! I'd rather die! Kill me, just don't hurt her! Don't do it!" He broke down into furious tears. "Amurui, stop it! I hate you! I hate you so much; you're going to hurt her!"

But what Senri didn't know, was that Guinevere was holding up a sword. He was no longer watching, his head in his hands. His head ached with a sharp pain. Amurui was hurting Guinevere, he heard the roaring.

Amurui leapt at the woman, but her sword didn't back down. It ran through his chest, blood pouring over him and over her hands. And there, under the cherry blossoms floating so gently to the ground like white snowflakes, Amurui died. Guinevere's eyes doubled in size.

"No," said Senri. "He's dead? She killed him?" He looked up, and saw the great monster falling to the ground on a soft carpet of pink, now dyed crimson with his blood. A single bird twittered in the tree, unaware of the event that had just occurred. "She thinks he's me."

Guinevere knew nothing of the monster that lived inside her good friend. She didn't know that she had killed Amurui. She thought that the man lying on the ground at her feet was Senri.

Senri himself was caught up in a whirlwind, returning to his normal self. Amurui was dead, and his heart expanded with joy almost to the breaking point. But no, Guinevere… He saw the tears even before they spilled down her face, and stopped. She thought he was dead? He looked into her brown eyes, so sad it was impossible as he returned to himself once more. Amurui's appearance faded, and Senri's own returned. His claws shrank back into hands and his teeth were no longer fangs. Amurui had not only lived in Senri, but was a part of him. He showed himself when Senri least wanted it to happen, but now he was dead, and Amurui's appearance would never again appear on his body. But he couldn't wake up. He wasn't dead, just far away.

This was not obvious to Guinevere. She fell to her knees, her shoulders shaking with all of the anger at herself. She thought she'd killed Senri. And as her hand touched his face, he snapped back into determination.

He had to return to himself, his normal body. Amurui was gone, what was keeping him from it? If he went, she would be happy. That was all he wanted, was for Guinevere to be happy. And his solitary grey eye snapped open. She gasped, her quick breath shaking as she stared, wide-eyed, at the man who was supposed to be dead. He sat up, the cherry blossoms dancing around his smile. Her tears were renewed as she embraced him. What had happened, she knew not. But whatever had kept him from feeling anything was far gone now.

--------------------------

Of course, a small and feathery someone had to come and ruin the moment. "What are you two doing?" Cooro asked as he came upon them. Guinevere blushed.

"Ah, um, I just…"

"Is that blood on the ground!?" Husky nearly shouted, and Nana let out an audible gasp.

"I kind of… killed… Senri, because he went all insane and turned into some monster, so I held up my sword, thinking he wouldn't do anything if I had my sword, and he jumped on it anyway, and died, but then he turned back into himself and came back…or…something," Guinevere summarized.

"You killed Amurui," said Senri.

"Amurui?" asked Nana, "You mean that bear that Upas was going on about when we were on Moss Mountain and he wanted to kill you?"

"I suppose… Amurui, the mad bear, was possessing Senri, and the only way Senri could make him stop was by suppressing his emotions and memories," Guinevere guessed. "So, when Senri transforms, it means that it's not really him, it's Amurui taking over his body. Since I killed him, I killed Amurui, not Senri."

"I think I get it," said Cooro. "When Senri would turn into a monster, it meant he wasn't really Senri then?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of," she said, and they all agreed, it was the only way something like that could have happened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I still don't own +Anima...**

**Cooro: Ooooh, I get it now, it's a fanfic!**

**Husky: *whacks Cooro***

**Asuka: How long has it taken him to get this?**

**Husky: A total of three chapters.**

**Asuka: Didn't I tell him at the beginning?**

**Husky: Yes.**

**Chapter Three: Cat Claws and Angel Wings**

"I hear something really weird," said Nana. "It sounds like a lot of footsteps behind us, but it's like they keep stopping."

"We're being followed. It's… Gonahav," said Guinevere. "It has to be! He was my master in Sailand, oh, no…" A group of warriors stepped out from behind their hiding places. "We've been ambushed."

"Yes you have," said the leader of the warriors, as he neared Guinevere, grabbing her shoulder. "You've gotten older, Guinevere."

"You're still the same dastardly villain you were before," she said bitterly, and took a step back, unsheathing her sword. Gonahav signaled to his warriors, and both Husky and Senri rushed to help Guinevere. It was only instants before the largest of the five warriors knocked Husky backward into the ground. Nana rushed to his side as the battle still raged. Senri and Guinevere grew still weaker, and it seemed as though all hope for them was lost. That was, until three other figures appeared, all familiar to them. The oldest, a cat-girl, jumped into the battle instantly, unsheathing her claws and temporarily incapacitating the soldiers.

Without a word between the travelers, they started running. "Where are you going?" asked the cat +Anima as they ran.

"Haven," said Guinevere, and they all perked up.

"Really?" asked the other girl, whom Cooro was sure he knew from somewhere. "Haven!? I've always wanted to go!"

"There's a boat, I can see it from here," said Guinevere. "Are you coming?" They instantly chose to come on the ship.

--------------------

As they traveled out of Astaria to the little island, Cooro found the familiar-looking girl.

She was so pretty. That was Cooro's first thought as he approached her. Her hair was black and curly, but not like Guinevere's, somehow, and her eyes were a brilliant shade of green. He wanted to talk to her, but every time he tried, his throat seemed to constrict and he got an odd feeling in his chest that he just couldn't talk to her at all. But he was determined. He walked closer.

"Um… hey," he said, and she turned around.

"Oh, hi Cooro!" she chirped brightly. He smiled a little, still incredibly nervous. His heart was pounding at a pace he never could have imagined, and there was absolutely no way that he could talk anymore. Her face fell. "Cooro… why are you so nervous around me?" she asked.

"I don't know!" he burst out, "It's just… I get this weird feeling whenever I see you and then I just can't talk at all, and… I wind up just walking away." She blushed.

"You're so cute," she said. "I'm Magdala."

"MAGDALA!" Cooro shouted. "I know you! Why the heck… I wasn't nervous around you before…"

She smiled again, this time a little sadly. "You knew me before… before my cousin took over Maggie Vil, and I had to become a +Anima to escape her."

"You're a +Anima!?" Cooro said. She nodded, as two white wings extended from her back.

"A swan," she said. Cooro stared at her in awe, and she folded her wings away. "I know, it's weird, isn't it?"

"No," he said. "You're so pretty." Her face reddened again.

"Thank you so much, Cooro," she said, and hugged him. This time, he was the one who turned red. "You're so nice to me, even though I'm a +Anima. It's so sweet," she said, and gave him a light kiss on the cheek before turning and leaving for a while. Cooro grinned, and sighed heavily.

--------------------------

"You too, eh?" asked Husky, walking over and perching himself on the railing of the ship. Cooro looked up, startled.

"What do you mean!?" he whined.

Husky laughed. "You, Senri… even me. I think all three of us have fallen in love with someone lately," he said.

"You have?" Cooro nearly shouted, always the oblivious one. Husky shook his head.

"Well, I'm glad you haven't noticed yet. Maybe she hasn't either," he said, and looked up at the sky with an almost dreamy expression.

"Who in the world are you daydreaming like that about?" Cooro asked.

"Erm… None of your business," said Husky, and Cooro only gave him a disbelieving stare.

"Want me to start guessing?" he asked.

"No, don't!" Husky protested, and Nana suddenly appeared.

"What're you two talking about?" she asked, and Husky started and nearly fell off into the water. Nana giggled. "Was it something embarrassing?" she guessed.

"What do you think?" Husky said sarcastically, and her grin became even wider.

"Ooh, it was, wasn't it?" she asked. "Do you have a secret crush on someone?" His expression said it all. He blushed crimson, and shook his head.

"No, no, that's not it!"

She smirked. "It is, isn't it? Well, you'd best not tell Cooro, or it won't be much of a secret anymore." Then, Nana flounced away to go and join Guinevere and Magdala, who were talking about Haven. Nana seemed to want to know all that she could about the island they were traveling to.

"She's right," said Husky. "I'm not telling you." He walked away, just wanting to be alone for a while, and Cooro remained there, caught in another daydream.

The truth was, Husky liked Nana. A lot. A whole lot. He maybe even loved her. But now, life was different than it had been before he'd felt this way. He could barely even stop thinking about her. He wanted to talk to her all the time, but when he finally did get a chance to do so, there were no words to say.

It shouldn't have happened like that. He was the Prince of Sailand, for crying out loud. He should have married some noblewoman and lived happily…ever…after. But he would be happier with Nana. She was no extraordinary beauty at first sight, but she had a sparkling personality and was just so… cute. He couldn't help but think of it.

But he was almost afraid to confess this to her. He didn't want her to know that he loved her so much. It would be embarrassing, and what if he didn't find the right moment. He wanted to tell her somehow, but he couldn't think how to say it without sounding incredibly stupid. He'd tried in his head. It just didn't work. And he'd probably start blushing like he did whenever he thought of her. He was probably blushing right now. Worst of all, he wanted to kiss her. It sounded so terrible, but he did. So badly. And if things continued like they did, he might just have to. He sighed and leaned back against the mast of the ship, wondering exactly how many more things could possibly go wrong on this trip.


	4. Chapter 4

**Asuka: Yes, I don't own +Anima. **

**Nana: Geez, Asuka, how long has it taken you to get this chapter on here?**

**Asuka: Like forever. Sorry, peeps!**

**Husky: If you actually owned +Anima, would you write a fanfiction?**

**Asuka: No. I WOULD make the series longer than ten books, though...**

**Senri: ...**

**Chapter Four: Mysterious Power**

"Hey, Guinevere," said Nana, as she approached her onboard the ship. The older girl nodded in greeting, and so Nana continued. "I… was kind of wondering… about you… well, I know all about what happened to Cooro and Husky and Senri, and you know all about us, so…"

"So it's only natural that you want to know about me, and how I became a +Anima, right?" asked Guinevere.

"Yes!" Nana chirped excitedly.

"Well, find Senri and Husky if you can, but… definitely find Cooro. I need to tell him something of importance that he doesn't know about his life either," she ordered.

It took about five minutes for Nana to find the other boys and convince them to go talk to Guinevere. They were all sitting below-deck in the cabin. "What's this all about?" Husky asked.

"Well, Nana wanted to know about my past, since I already know all about you four, so… I'm going to tell you," said Guinevere.

"This wouldn't be another of your plans, would it?" Husky asked Nana.

"No way!" she said angrily. "I just wanted to know!"

"I was planning on telling you anyway," Guinevere said. "Now, listen. I was not born a +Anima. I had a normal life with a normal family, until some… problems occurred. My mother died, in the very oddest of situations in our village of Lilt. The odd part was what happened to my brother, though."

"This sounds oddly like…" Nana trailed off.

"What Aaron Newt said about Cooro," Husky finished.

"Yes. It is about Cooro. Have you not noticed his resemblance to me?" asked Guinevere.

"Now that you mention it, I do kind of look like you," Cooro said. "So I'm your brother?"

"You are," she said. "But let me continue and don't interrupt, for I fear that if you do, I may not finish. Now, since my father was already deceased, I was heartbroken, and became a +Anima in order to defy my sadness. I love flying, you see, so I became the +Anima of a bird. But since I was a +Anima, I was sold into slavery in Sailand and placed under hold of Gonahav, my cruel master whose experiments gave me the odd powers which I now possess. He wants me back… to…" her voice became even quieter, "to… kill me."

"Why!?" Nana nearly shouted, enraged, as tears began to trickle down Guinevere's cheeks. "Why would someone want to hurt you!?"

"Because I've seen too much of the world to ever be placed under his control willingly once again. He always said 'if you can't control it, destroy it'."

"Why destroy something that you don't have to control, though?" asked Husky.

"There's no one else in the world that has the same powers as I do. So he'd have to control me, for fear of some powers that didn't appear originally. Trust me, if I was able to, I wouldn't read minds. I don't want to. It's useful sometimes, but more of a menace," she said angrily.

"I felt that way about my +Anima for a long time," said Nana. "Then, I had a chance to lose it, and I thought of how many wonderful things being a +Anima has led me to… and I couldn't bear to think of giving that up, just so some misinformed person could be implanted with my powers and perhaps end up with no use for it. I think… if I wasn't a +Anima, I never would have met Cooro and Senri and Husky… and if you couldn't read minds, you never would have stayed in Fear Hollow so long, and you never would have met us! Are you glad about that!?"

"More than I have been about anything else," she sighed. "I guess if I couldn't read minds, I never would have known that Cooro is my little brother. I am glad."

Senri smiled. "So am I."


	5. Chapter 5

**Guin: Heey, this chapter's really short.**

**Asuka: Thanks, I noticed.**

**Cooro: Why is that?**

**Asuka: I DON'T KNOW! STOP ASKING RANDOM QUESTIONS!**

**Guin: I did not ask a random question. I stated something.**

**Chapter Five: Fires, Oceans, and Tears**

Guinevere's night was filled with dreams of the most awful sort, yet the only problem was that they weren't just dreams. They were her past.

She was standing from afar, watching her mother's body lying on a stone table in the distance, as tears ran down her face and daggers of pain flew through her heart at the thought. Her entire family was gone, she had nowhere to run. She had no one to go to. She left the place before her brother flew away.

And then she was whirled away to two years later, as a fire burned over her entire village. It was hours before it ended, leaving only ashes that covered the ground like some horrid black snow. Ashes that had once been her friends and remaining family, everything she treasured. Ashes that had once been her entire life.

Now she was alone on a cliff near the sea, the tears still continuing. She had nothing to live for, the sole survivor of everything that had ever happened to her. She knew no living person in the whole of Astaria, or even all the world. There was no one who would want her. She started running. And she jumped. Off the cliff. Into the ocean. A hawk called above. Surely it would be the last sound she heard.

But before she hit the water, she soared up into the air, an exhilarating feeling rising in her heart. She had not stopped crying, but now her tears were those of happiness, utter happiness. She knew what it felt like for her family, her best friends, her mother… who were all surely angels. And she knew that someone somewhere wanted her to fly. They wanted her to survive.

The hawk danced around her, and the wind carried her back to her conscious self, as morning dawned to the cry of a sentry who'd spotted land.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Ocean Pearl**

The green island of Haven seemed to spread out before them in the morning sun, unfolding in front of the ship. Cooro leaned over the edge of the deck so far that he nearly fell over, and the mysterious cat +Anima who'd been with Magdala came out of nowhere and pulled him back up. "Rose," said Senri. Nana gasped audibly, and Rose nodded.

"Senri," she said.

"What're you doing here!? You look different!" Cooro said excitedly. She pulled off the hood of the brown cape that she'd worn since they'd first come upon her.

"I've been taking care of Magdala since she became a +Anima," said Rose.

"So you mean that kid with you… is Pinion!?" Husky asked, sounding obviously amazed. As she laughed and answered them, Senri noticed Guinevere standing a few feet away, lost in her own thoughts instead of someone else's for once.

"Senri?" Nana said as she noticed him walking away. Guinevere looked up from where she was standing, resting her elbow on the railing of the deck. Senri stared back at her bright brown eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, and she smiled a little.

"Just remembering how it was," she replied. Senri didn't totally understand what she meant, but he stroked her hair comfortingly, earning a searing glance from Rose. Rose, of course, had affections for Senri, but he was not quite one to notice that kind of thing. Frankly, he hadn't ever cared for anyone in that sort of way in his life. Nana tugged on the side of Rose's cape. She glanced back at the younger girl with a questioning look.

"Rose, why do you look so angry at Senri?" she asked. "He's just being nice. Senri's always like that." Rose's expression softened.

"Guess I never really thought about what he's like," she said.

Nana began to think about how much Rose's younger brother had changed in the few years between the time they'd left the two siblings and now. It was a funny thing, how different people became, sometimes so different that they were unrecognizable. She'd changed too, and Husky also. Even Cooro looked different, though his personality was the same, bubbly and perky all of the time. Husky looked the most different, and he was probably glad too for he no longer resembled a girl.

"Nana, we're leaving," said Husky. She jumped, and then followed him, surprised at the sound of his voice.

Suddenly, there came a shout from the other side of the ship.

Guinevere stood upright, wondering what all of the yelling was about. Someone was still shouting, and it wasn't anything about spying the island in the distance. "Someone's in the water!" she heard, and then looked around to find Husky.

The fish +Anima in question, however, was still standing in the same place, looking around in utter confusion as to what was going on. His blue eyes were wide as he noticed exactly what everyone was pointing and shouting about. A small figure was bobbing in the water, among the wreckage of a ship which had run into the rocky shore of the island. He was about to jump into the water, when a spray of liquid like tiny crystals rained down on them as something propelled itself out of the water and landed hard on the deck.

As soon as the shock of the moment was over, everyone started to realize exactly what it was that had flown out of the water and onto the deck. It was a small girl, wide-eyed and fearful, with short blonde hair and blue fins instead of legs. She glanced rapidly around, and tried to stand, but without legs, it was near impossible.

She looked up at all of the eyes staring at her, all of the people that had animal parts, and she started to cry. She was on this boat with a bunch of monsters!

"Are you hurt?" asked a girl with big ears like a bat's. The tiny fish +Anima shied away from all of their worried glances, and tried to hide. She buried her face in her dress, surprised to find that her legs had returned. She stared curiously at the appendages which had recently reappeared, and moved her foot just a little to make sure that it was hers.

The man in front of her with the blue eyes knelt in front of her and brushed her wet hair away from her neck. He looked at the odd marking which had recently appeared there, and then, with a sudden comprehension, looked back at the others.

"I think she just became a +Anima," he said. What was a +Anima? What were all of these people talking about? She started to cry again. The man turned to her again, his expression calm and firm. She looked at him, hoping that he would explain everything, but he did not. "What's your name?" he asked. She did not answer. She didn't want to answer right now. She was too scared.

But somehow this man was nice. She knew he was a good person, and so she stretched out her arms and hugged him, just wanting someone to hold onto. He lifted her up, much stronger than he looked.

"Don't ask her any questions, Husky," said a black-haired girl with big brown wings. So his name was Husky. "Her name is Pearl," the woman continued. "And she had no idea what we are." Pearl looked up upon hearing her name, only to find all of the people staring at her again. She buried her face in Husky's shoulder once more. She didn't want to look at them.

"Why are they all animals?" she whispered. "You're not, why are they?" Instead of answering her, Husky addressed the winged girl.

"Guinevere, why was she on a ship?"

"She's a daughter of one of the royal researchers," said the lady called Guinevere. "If the researchers are sending ships out here, there's a serious problem."

Pearl felt the boat that they were on slow to a stop as some of the animal boys tied it to a dock. They all walked onto the island, Husky still carrying her. The group of people looked around. The island was in tatters, parts of buildings and scorched trees all that was remaining.

"Something's really wrong," said Husky as he looked around the island. A black-haired man was running across the island to them. He had big wings, too, and curved talons on his feet.

"GUINEVERE!" he shouted, recognizing one of them, as he crashed into her and nearly knocked her over. "Thank goodness you're here!"

Pearl gasped as a big man with a bear's arm growled at the black-haired man. Guinevere pushed the man off her.

"Kazana, what're you doing?" she demanded. So he was Kazana. Pearl wished she knew everyone's name, but that would come later.

"We've been attacked," said Kazana. Guinevere snorted.

"That's obvious," she said. He shook his head.

"Not the point! Anyway, we've got to send out groups of people to… Guin, who's she?" he asked, looking at Pearl, who turned to Husky again.

"Her name's Pearl," said Guinevere. "She just became a +Anima." Kazana nodded.

"'Kay. Take her up to the only remaining building, will you? There's a butterfly +Anima named Serenity up there who's taking care of the children."

"Husky, you should take her up there," said Guinevere, and the man holding Pearl nodded and walked away. Pearl looked around at the smoldering remains of so many houses. And they had said that this was the fault of the 'researchers'. Wasn't that what her daddy was? Eventually, before they even got to the only remaining building, exhaustion overcame her and she fell asleep.


End file.
